CONTACT US

National Women's Day

7 August 1996

COSATU Statement on the National Women's Day

As we approach National Women's Day on August 9, COSATU once again
salutes the women of our country . While there are National Events
all over the country including Pretoria, our focus this year will be
on the situation in KwaZulu-Natal .

The theme is :
The fight against violence on women.

South Africa has a rich history of strong women leaders who played
leading roles in the struggle for liberation. It was also a struggle
for emancipation of women. This included women such as-Lillian Ngoyi,
Ruth First, Helen Joseph, Ray Alexander, Dora Tamana, Albertina
Sisulu, Francis "Ma" Baart and thousands of other women. In COSATU
this included people like Jabu Ndlovu, Mam Lydia. Emma Mashinini.
Susan Shabangu to name but the few. This was a struggle against
national oppression and exploitation.

We also salute those women who have managed to break through the
prejudices facing them and become prominent leaders of our time, both
in government and in civil society. These women see our struggle as
both a class and gender struggle.

Violence and Women However, the sad reality is that women are still
the most oppressed strata of our society:

Rural women are at the bottom of the rung, often living in the most
difficult and sometimes inhuman conditions. In these areas there is no
infrastructure, water, electricity and telecommunications. Most women
in these area are often uneducated which offers them little hope of
improving their situation. We need to build these areas both in terms
of infrastructure and education programmes such as those run by ABET.

Women also continue to work in the lowest paid jobs earning slave
wages; they bare the brunt of political violence, they are the main
victims of violent crimes, such as rape, abuse, battery etc. Some are
driven to such degrading activities such as prostitution and drugs as
way of survival.

The police are still inefficient in dealing with these cases and the
law also provides little support for victims of these crimes. We need
to create a society where women feel secure and where there are
adequate support systems for victims of crime.

Way Forward

COSATU has identified a number of areas where we need to campaign for
women's rights.

Equality : Although we celebrate the number of women who have moved
into leadership positions in all tiers of government, women are still
sorely underrepresented in decision making processes. Moreover, women
are often undermined in these structures and their opinions not taken
as seriously as those of men. The government still needs to take bold
decisions around issues which mainly affect women, such as those
relating to the budget allocation. In our country child care is still
not budgeted for.

We need to look at the experiences of other countries where government
pays for creche or child minding facilities. The government also needs
to look at ways of legally enforcing maintenance pay from those
fathers who desert their families .

Six Month Paid Maternity Leave

COSATU is fighting for a six months paid maternity leave, that is not
paid for from our UIF Fund. In this way the burden for raising
children will not only be born by women parents. We reject with
contempt the view held by some employers that granting rights to women
will increase costs at a factory. If this be the price that we pay
for democracy so be it.

COSATU welcomes the move to grant women "freedom of choice "over their
bodies as thousands of women are being injured and killed each year
from back street abortions. The government must prioritise setting up
counselling services, coupled with abortion clinics, to put an end to
this terrible situation. This is not a licence for abortions but a
means to ensure that there is no discrimination against those women
who decide on abortion.

As we celebrate the National Women's Day, we need to rededicate our
selves to take steps that will lead to total emancipation for women at
the work place, communities, economically and politically. This will
require among others the reprioritisation of expenditure by the
government, education of men and women on gender issues and employment
programmes which target women and the youth.